


Teddy Bear

by Genie_of_the_Fourth_Wall



Series: Growing Up [1]
Category: Kindergarten (Video Games 2017 2019)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Scars, basically me rambling about my protag characterization headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 16:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20473889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Genie_of_the_Fourth_Wall/pseuds/Genie_of_the_Fourth_Wall
Summary: He was broken, torn apart, and sewn back together again. It was a lot, for a kid who hadn’t even had the chance to learn how to read yet.





	Teddy Bear

**Author's Note:**

> So like... I love this series and have a ton of post-game Kindergarten fics planned, but first here’s an introspective view of my take on the protagonist because I have a lot of feelings about this character (I mean I have a lot of feelings about a lot of these characters but w h a t e v e r). Side note, title is a mild reference to the song Tokyo Teddy Bear. This isn’t a songfic by any means, but I really associate the song (specifically Jubyphonic’s translyrics) to my interpretation of Kid, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

It didn’t take long for him to die, the first time. It was a dumb, selfish little thing, looking back on it. He just didn’t think it was fair for Buggs to take his money. Buggs punched him, again, and again, and again, and suddenly Kid found himself back in his room. He shook it off as a nightmare, but he still left his money at home before heading off to school for the second time. After falling down the hole to the Nugget Cave and getting shot by the principal, Kid finally accepted that he wasn’t just having a long, terrible dream. It was then that he started to notice the scars. The injuries were never fresh when he woke up. All that was left were pale, faded reminders of days that didn’t exist anymore.

He tried to lay low, the next time around. He didn’t get involved with anybody’s issues, he just kept his head down and waited for the day to be over. It didn’t work. After he left the school, Kid simply found himself waking up, back at home. It was still Monday. He accepted that he wasn’t getting out of this any time soon. Kid liked to help people. So he started doing that. It had... mixed results. Everybody’s problems were like little puzzles. He learned that there were very specific things he had to do in order to satisfy them. It took a lot of trial and error, which meant a lot of death. Dying wasn’t scary, not after going through it dozens of times. Sure, it was a pain (quite literally), but Kid found himself getting used to it. Dying became nothing more than a slip-up, a minor inconvenience.

He never got used to killing his classmates.

Lily was the first. Poor, sweet Lily, who had already been through so much. Because of Kid’s meddling, she threw herself to her death. It made him feel sick, and part of him felt he deserved it when Buggs beat him to death during Show & Tell. It didn’t get easier from there. Kid didn’t care that most of his classmates were very capable of killing him. He couldn’t bring himself to blame them for any of the bad stuff they did. They all clearly had their own issues, and it wasn’t like he was any better. He had come to care for all of them, in an odd sense.

He was so happy when he saved Billy. The only person who died was the stupid principal, and Kid thought the guy deserved what he got. He went home feeling satisfied, and it finally happened. Tuesday came. Kid was overjoyed. Then he got to the new school. He felt an odd sense of foreboding, but he did his best to dismiss it. Maybe it was just the absence of Lily and Billy. He hoped they were doing well, wherever they were. Kid managed to make it through the day with little incident (well, if you could call Nugget losing his arm ‘little incident’). He left the school. He woke up. It was still Tuesday. He wanted to scream.

At the very least, he had a much better idea of what to do this time. Between the suspiciously friendly principal, strange green goo, and missing students, it was clear this school had some sort of conspiracy going on just like last time. Kid just had to keep doing what he was good at: helping his classmates and solving the mysteries of the school. After many deaths (both of himself and his friends), he finally had what he needed to help Lily and Billy with their mission. It would cost the lives of a few crooked adults, but he could live with that. Looking at Ms. Applegate’s body, he remembered how she had gleefully encouraged him to kill off all of his friends. Good riddance, he thought.

When Lily said that they had failed, he internally panicked. They couldn’t have failed. They just couldn’t. If they failed... then what did he do wrong? What other options did he have left? Thankfully, the three kids they had been trying to save were okay. He wasn’t sure how they managed to revive, but frankly he wasn’t going to question it. He was ready for this day to be over.

As Kid left the school, he realized that he never told his friends his name. He knew so much about them, information he had gathered throughout the looping days, yet they barely knew anything about him in return. Maybe it was better this way. Better for him to remain a ghost, watching the others from afar. Helping when needed, but otherwise staying out of focus. He didn’t deserve their friendship, after the kinds of things he had done to them. Kid wondered how long this would last. How many days would he have to repeat? In the end, it didn’t really matter. He knew he would do what he had to do. He would kill and be killed, as many times as it was necessary. He would tear everything apart in order to put it back together. Because his friends were just as messed up as he was, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until they were patched up as best as he could manage. It was the least Kid could do, when all was said and done.


End file.
